John Quincy Adams
Birth- July 11, 1767
Death-February 23, 1848
VP-John C. Calhoun
Parties-Federalist, Democratic-Republican, Whig




Adams got into office in a controversial manner, out of the top three candidates there was no clear cut majority in the electoral college so the house had to decide who the president was going to be. There were three candidates that the house could choose from, Henry Clay who also ran for president was not in the choices, but he threw his support to the similar Adams, and with his influences in Congress Adams got elected. This really made the jackson supporters angry they claimed the election to be a "corrupt bargain". Adams got off on the wrong foot, but he still tried to make things better, by going to meet with congress and proposing many plans and acts to better the country. However these acts were not carried out and were not received by congress very well, it because of this that many people say that he didn't get anything done, and it is because of this that I am awarding Adams a C-.

He wanted to improve the American system, and improve America internally. He wanted to better connect the many sections of America and he wanted to improve the roads and the canals of America. Also he wanted to make America the leader when it came to art and education by founding a national university, and the space observatory. He planned to carry out his thoughts of improvements with a high tarriff. He wanted to make sure that America was completely modernized.

Adams and congress did not see eye to eye. He purposed many ways to carry out the things that he wanted to do but congress didn't want to have a part of it. There were many members of congress still upset about the election of 1824, thus almost everything that Adams purposed was shot down because the congress thought that he was unfit to be president. Because of this nothing that he wanted to get done did get done, so part of the blame for his bad presidency can be blamed on congress.

I would say that the most positive outcome would be the few improvements that he did make, the extension of the cumberland road into Ohio, beginning to build the chesapeake and ohio canal, the connection of the great lakes with the ohio river system, and the expansion and building of many other canals. It is for this reason, the way that he was able to connect the country a little bit that he is passing instead of getting a D.

The worst part about his presidency was the protective tariffs that severely divided the administration, at some points Adams did not even have the support of those even in the same party. He also lost control of congress almost completely in 1827. Also another awful note of his presidency was the signing of the tariff of 1828 aka the tariff of abominations.

The thing that had the biggest influence would have to be the improvement on the transportation systems, including canals, and roads. This opened up new trades and connected the growing country. Before this there was three definate sections including the west, north, and south. Once these methods were opened the areas began to get a little more connected and become more of a country. This allowed trade to increase and also allowed the population west of the mississippi to grow because there was now new ways to get there.

I would have to say that the country felt no effect, he did nothing great and he did not screw anything up. The best thing that came at the end of his presidency was the fact that congress was finally going to get what they really wanted, Jackson. The only thing that he did however would have a good effect, the spread of wealth across the nation due to his roads and canals is certainly a good thing, and also the national university and observitory are both very good things.



http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ja6.html
http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/jqadams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams